Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1887-07-08
&armers' Column.
Give fools their gold 4 knaves their power
Let fortunes bubbles rise and fail;
Who sows a field or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, Is more than all.
Truck Farming.

The setting out of the plants of win
ter cabbage takes place when the
ground is thoroughly warm, and pull
verified probably by some early crop Of
vegetables that have been pulled ul
and sent to market. Transplanting
is usually done in the latter part Of
June, or in the first week of July, 81
that the plants will have long tim.
in which to ripen. After the first Of
July the weather will be permanently
settled, and the plants will have no
sudden changes in the temperature to
encounter. Consequently they willre-
quire less amount of fertilizer, and
will flourish with even less care than
the summer cabbage will require. The
only attention that will be needed to
keep them in good condition will be
to see that the cabbage worms are not
destroying the leaves and small heads.
If these insects are successfully kept
down, a good crop of of cabbages
ought to be ready for the fall market.
All the heads that are salable should
be sold in the fall, and only those that
are too small for use should be kept
for spring.
The work of pitting in the cabbages
through winter is one that pays well
it properly performed. Probably one
half, or one-quarter of the crop, will
be in an apparently worthless condi
ton when the heads are pulled in the
fall. Formerly these small, immature
heads were fed to the cattle or swine,
and nothing realized off their growth
The work Of pitting in the cabbages
then came in vogue, and now it is al
most universally adopted by growers
of the vegetable. In the first place,
the pit should be located on the side
of a hill; if possible, where the waters
will not settle around the bed. A sys-
tenn Of drains or bitches should be
constructed around the pit, so that
the surface waters will be conducted
around and not through the place
where the cabbages are to be buried.
When this is done, a shallow pit, about
one foot deep, should be excavated
and row of the small cabbages set
upright along its side. The roots of
the plants should be covered with soft,
mellow soil nearly up to the leaves.
Another row should then be crowded
close up so the first, and treated in
the same way. The soil can be press
ed around the plants with the foot if
necessary, and usually this is advisa-
BILE, as the vegetables are held In posi-
ton better by SO doing. Before the
cold winds of autumn set in the tops
of the cabbages should be thoroughly
covered with leaves, gathered in the
woods or forests, and whole kept in
the place by means of boards loosely
laid on. Later still, when the frosts
and SHOWS begin to become frequent, a
rude sort of shed or roof should be
constructed over the leaves, in order
to prevent the moisture from soaking
into them. This roof can be made of
rough boards, or of corn fodder; in
fact, anything will do that will con-
duct the water away from the bed. If
the roof is slantlng this will be the
better accomplished.
Cabbages managed in this way will
be protected from the excessive cold
during the winter months, and yet
will not sweat during the few warm
days that are likely to be experienced
even in mid-winter. In the spring
time fine heads of salable cabbages
will be had for use, and considerable
profit realized from the pit.